Money for nothing and checks for freeBy Steven T. Jones
After almost 20 years working for newspapers in California, I’ve taken hundreds of calls from public relations people seeking to have us write about their corporate clients. I usually ignore them, but sometimes I warn them to be careful what they’re asking for because they just might get it.
So when Amy Wallace from Echo Media Public Relations called me this week, seeking to get me to write a laudatory piece about California Property Tax Savers – which helps clients lower their property tax payments, something she said was important during these hard times – I remembered that local officials had just last month cautioned against using such companies.
Assessor Phil Ting and Treasurer Jose Cisneros sent out a statement that “denounced unscrupulous property tax reassessment services” that charge fees for a service that the city offers for free. I had the company send me a response to the city’s warning, and I called Ting to get a response to their response (which follows).
“Anybody can come into our office and make this request for free. It’s a process that’s created so people don’t have to pay these fees,” said Ting, who said he doesn’t believe this company can get clients more of a reduction than they’d otherwise get, and he said it certainly wouldn’t be enough to offset fees of up to 40 percent.
This was the company's response to the warning by Cisneros and Ting:
The following statement can be attributed to California Property Tax Savers co-founders Cornell Beans and Scott Daniel.
There are scams out there, and consumers should be aware of the common ruses; however it is misleading to make a blanket statement suggesting that all companies providing a service to assist homeowners through the appeals process are illegitimate.
Filing for a property tax appeal in the state of California can be a time-consuming and complex process. Rather than spending hours at the county assessors office wading through microfiche to pull accurate comps, or guessing and hoping that data found online is correct, and rather than searching multiple Web sites and calling non-responsive government officials for the forms and deadlines – there are legitimate companies out there that offer consumers the service of providing the data and information they need to file on their own to receive a maximum return.
On one hand we understand wanting to look out for the public, but on the other hand it is unfair to lead consumers to battle without ammunition. Before entering the California property tax appeal process, homeowners need to be armed with the tools and resources they need to navigate the complexities of do-it-yourself appeals filing. Too many homeowners have failed because they have mined inconsistent comparables data from disreputable sources, missed county deadlines or submitted expired forms.
Companies that expedite and streamline this process, making it easier for consumers, should not be penalized simply because there are scam artists out there.
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Comments (1)
This a real property tax appeal company that helps the consumer. I did it myself for $49, without costly attorney fees.
www.easytaxfix.com
If you have any questions, please email me offline @ llfinan@aol.com.
Cheers
Posted by llfinan | March 28, 2009 01:11 PM